Diamond SWAT 12 Shotgun

Turkish manufacturer Matsan A.S. showed off the new Diamond SWAT 12 shotgun at the IWA Outdoor Classics exposition in Germany. IWA is similar to the SHOT Show that is held annually in the United States.

Quite a few Turkish shotguns come into the US market through various distributors, and in some cases, branded with a US manufacturer’s name. So, I suspect that we will see these in this country – assuming they can muster BATFE approval.* (see more on shotgun importation below)

The new shotgun is a tactical-style, semi-automatic gun that uses a detachable box magazine. Both 5- and 10-round magazines are available for these guns. The magazine latch is at the rear of the magwell. The action is gas operated.

The SWAT 12 has a pistol grip, four-position adjustable buttstock (for length of pull) and what looks like a full length Picatinny rail. Additionally, there are three shorter Picatinny rails on the hand guard at the 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions.

Pictures show the gun with a front sight and flash suppressor. According the company, the shotguns weigh about 7.3 pounds and will come with your choice of an 18.1″, 20″ or 22″ barrel. A cross bolt safety is used on these.

Matsan A.S. began manufacturing shotguns in 1962.

• In 2011, the BATFE attempted to ban the importation of certain shotguns they deemed to be unsporting. These included the Saiga and Benelli shotguns. However, in November of that year, Congress passed and President Obama signed an appropriations bill that included a prohibition on the use of any government funds to implement the importation of any shotgun that had not already been banned from importation.

The reading of the law may allow for the banning of the importation of brand new shotguns, but not existing ones that were already OK to import. Only time will tell if the Diamond SWAT 12 will get the bureaucratic stamp of approval.

Although these shotguns are branded with SWAT, a better law enforcement shotgun is the Beretta 1301 Tactical. If you want to read about a truly great police scattergun, read my 1301 Tactical review here.